


Leap of Faith

by Remyroo17



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:05:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10560778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remyroo17/pseuds/Remyroo17
Summary: The theatre au nobody asked for.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShippingThings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingThings/gifts).



> This happened because I saw Rent and wanted Lena to play Maureen because it would be funny as shit. It's not nearly as fleshed out as I would like it to be, as I'm working on lots of other writing projects at the moment. This is more like an outline of the story I'd love to write.

It was almost June, and Lena still hadn't decided on a production for this Christmas.

National City Theatre Community had been a great success the past year and a half, with plenty of help from Kara and Winn.

It had all started when a small theatre group had been forced to disband – their community centre had burned down in some alien-related attack or another (the group blamed the fact they were currently putting on _Cats_ ), and the funds simply weren't available to either repair it or find a new space to work.

Kara had been a long-time fan of the group, she'd been going to their performances ever since she moved to National City. Theatre had always been something that resonated with Kara, her superhearing allowing her to pick up all of the nuances and changes in key, the dozen voices singing different words at the same time... as a teenager, it let her use powers she usually had to hide away.

She'd mentioned the damages off-handedly to her friend and Lena, immediately picking up on Kara's dejection, offered to pay for a new space.

In thank you, the group suggested she be a lead producer, and so far her ideas had been absolutely crucial to the success of their shows.

It had become a foundation, now, with aptly-timed shows dedicated to national awareness days, holidays of all different types, as well as classics and shows just for fun – though Cats was off the table, an unspoken rule amongst all of their members.

Lena was sitting at a small bistro table with Kara, waiting on their food to arrive for lunch, head in the clouds while she contemplated Christmas, when she picked up on what Kara was talking about.

“\- so because I broke my phone _again_ I have to cut into the money I've set aside for rent, so I'm probably gonna be short on that this month and I swear I'll cry if my phone breaks before next month's rent because then I'll be even shorter,” she finally finished with a sigh.

Kara looked up, and Lena was smiling at her with a gleam in her eye. She gave her a curious look, prompting her to speak.

“Rent!”

If Kara could verbalise '?', she would have done.

“The Christmas production! We'll do Rent!”

“It's not exactly the merriest of musicals...”

Lena nodded slowly in agreement. “True, but December first is world aids day. We could open that night and have the show on for a week or two.”

Kara thanked the waiter who set their food down and took a bite of her panini. “It could work...” she mumbled around the food (a trait that Lena actually found endearing...) “I mean, again, it's not Christmassy-”

“But it would remind people to cherish what they have before it's gone,” Lena interrupted, twirling some pasta onto her fork. “As well as creating awareness – people these days do still have HIV, it's definitely not a thing of the past.”

Kara nodded thoughtfully, looking at Lena with something that resembled adoration. “Well, I think it's a really great idea then.”

Lena immediately grinned back at the blonde, took out her tablet and scribbled notes as they ate.

It wasn't until the beginning of October that they were finally able to hold auditions, but Lena didn't want people to know just yet that it would be Rent.

Auditions were open, as always, so that anyone across the city could join if they wanted to. Veteran members of the theatre group didn't even get priority spots, the order for auditions was entirely randomised.

The adverts for auditions had asked the candidates to prepare one Shakespeare sonnet, to be read melodramatically, and at least two songs prepared.

Kara and Lena took their seats three rows back from the stage (they'd recently upgraded to a custom-built theatre Lena had commissioned), and gestured toward the edge of the stage, where a member of the set crew was waiting to usher people through for their auditions.

To both their surprise, Winn was the first person to walk on the stage, tugging his tie a little looser.

“Hey,” Kara said, tilting her head at him.

“Hey,” he nodded, looking at the ground. “Uh, I know I'm usually the tech guy for these things, but... I've been meaning to audition for a while. I figure why not now?”

Kara nodded enthusiastically. “Definitely. Why don't you do your sonnet first?”

He nodded again, laughed out his nervousness and took a breath.

When he looked up at them again, it was with a mix of love, fear, and desperation.

“Let me not, to the marriage of true minds, admit impediments...  
Love is not love! Which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove, oh no!” he grinned brightly, breathing a little heavier than normal, and Kara could hear his heart flutter, could hear the passion he was putting behind the words.

“It is an ever fixed mark! That looks upon tempests and is never shaken!” He spoke loudly, so his voice reverberated in the empty theatre. He dropped softer for his next lines, but that underlying desperation was still there. “It is the star to every wandering bark, whose worth's unknown – although, his height be taken...”

He was quiet for a moment, looking around the seats as if there were audience members he wished to engage. “Love is not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks,” he sighed, shaking his head. “With his bending sickle's compass come, Love alters _not_ with his brief hours and weeks-” he picked up again, “but bears it out, even to the edge of doom!” He smiled and laughed a little, staring up into the balcony.

Winn shook his head, and looked at the ground, seemingly defeated.

“If this be error, and upon me proved...” he looked up to Kara and Lena again. “I never writ. Nor no man ever loved.”

Kara and Lena, well, they were shocked into silence.

Kara had never known that her best friend possessed such incredible acting prowess, and Lena's mind was reeling with the possibilities of Winn's talent. She already had a role in mind for him.

He was completely out of character now, and was watching their reactions with hesitation and fear. “Well?” He finally prompted.

Lena shook her head slightly to wake herself out of her stupor.

“That was fantastic, Winn, truly,” she assured him. She could just see the blush that appeared on his neck. “Why don't you go ahead and do your song for us?”

He turned his head to the side of the stage and nodded, cueing the music for the song he'd chosen. (<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TppJMa8apkc>)

Lena held her hand up just after three minutes in, silently asking him to stop, and she stood.

“We've heard all we need to hear. When we're finished auditioning, we'll let you know when we're going to start rehearsals.”

He frowned down at her. “What about call backs?”

Lena smiled softly and let out a laugh. “You won't need one, Winn, that was incredible. You're in this.”

Kara nodded dumbly in agreement, still in total shock that she didn't know about Winn's incredible singing voice either.

It was now the mid-October, and Lena was ready to send out a mass text to all those she'd chosen to be in the cast – not that those people even knew what production they'd auditioned for.

“Ready?” Kara asked her, watching Lena's thumb hover over the send button in the group chat she'd just created.

Lena nodded and tapped her screen. Everyone received their message as follows:

 _NCTG CHRISTMAS PRODUC. 2017 – RENT!_  
Winn Schott – Mark Cohen  
Ross Hunter – Roger Davis  
Ryan O'Gorman – Tom Collins  
Javar Parker – Benny Coffin  
Layton Williams – Angel Dumont Schunard  
Phillipa Stefani – Mimi Marquez  
M'Gann M'orzz – Joanne Jefferson  
Lucie Jones – Mauren Johnson

Followed by a list of background members, then the date of their first meeting.

Her phone started ringing immediately, Winn's name on screen, and she answered on speaker. “Hey, what's wrong?” Kara asked, and she could hear Winn laughing a little.

“This isn't an episode of Punk'd, right?” he asked. “You seriously want me as Mark? Like, really?”

Lena glanced sideways at Kara. “Yeah, really. From the moment you started singing I wanted you as Mark. Is that a problem?”

“A problem?!” he guffawed. “This is like, the best day of my life! Okay, maybe second best because of that time I met Harrison Ford but _still_! You won't regret it, I promise.”

“I sure hope not. Now shut up, you're gonna need voice rest,” she joked, and both Winn and Kara laughed a little.

Not long after, it was time for their first cast meeting. The location? Lena's own apartment, for the peasant's feast.

Over the course of the evening, Lena learned that this would be Lucie's first time on stage, and that she was incredibly nervous about playing Maureen. Lena promised she'd help guide her through the process (at this point, production and even direction was a walk Into The Woods for Lena) and make sure she was alright.

Layton could literally not be more excited to get the part, he'd idolised the musical all his life and assured Kara emphatically that he already knew all of the musical cues.

The time finally came for rehearsals to begin – they started with a full sing- and read-through. As time progressed and the show really started to come together, Lucie's nervousness began to wane – though would make an unappreciated return if anyone outside the group came to watch.

She would start having a panic attack that only Lena could pull her down from. Lucie would then continue to perform, but it would be nowhere near as good as her usual self.

Opening night got closer, and for all intents and purposes Lucie was doing great! So long as no one else was there to see her. Other than that tiny hitch, everything was perfect.

One week before opening night. It had now been fully advertised that Rent was the Christmas production. Every seat was booked for the first week of the show.

When Lucie found out, she had the worst panic attack so far, and Lena took her aside into a quiet and spacious room.

After ten minutes, she finally calmed her down enough to hold a conversation.

“Lucie... This isn't going to work out if you keep going on like this. I thought you were getting it under control?”

“I was,” she shuddered out, still wiping tears away. “I can't help it,”

“I know you can't,” Lena interrupted, taking the other woman's hands in hers. “But... Lucie, we don't have any understudies. Understand? I need you to be able to do this – you're incredible! You're a fantastic Maureen, and other people deserve to see that.

Lucie stared at the ground for a few long moments, then shook her head. “I don't think I can do it,” she finally whispered, not daring to look Lena in the eye.

If she'd looked up, she would have seen Lena's sad but understanding smile. “That's okay,” she muttered back. “The last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable, that's what's most important to me.”

~

“Kara, you're the new Maureen,” Lena sighed as she stepped back out onto the stage, where everyone was taking five.

“What?!” the blonde said, jumping up from her chair and almost – _almost –_ launching three feet into the air.

“Lucie can't do it, and I don't want to force her.”

“I can't learn Maureen's part in less than a week!”

“Well, you're going to have to try, because there's no one else.”

Kara just stood there, staring at Lena in shock as she made to leave. “We'll stop rehearsal early today, give Kara a chance to learn in private – don't give me that look, sweetie, I'll help you,” she promised with an almost sly smile.

The pair spent every night that week at Lena's place, rehearsing by themselves, or at the theatre after everyone else had gone home.

Kara had tripped and fallen over for the twentieth time that day, the night before final dress rehearsal, and Lena slumped down onto the sofa in Roger and Mark's apartment area of the set.

“This show is going to be a disaster,” she sighed deeply, eyes closed, as she felt Kara slump down next to her.

“You know, Lena, you've been teaching me every step, note, every line... It looks to me like no one knows this part better than you,” she said hesitantly, tilting her head.

Lena opened her eyes and fixed Kara with a glare. “You better not be suggesting what I think you're suggesting-”

“That you play Maur-”

“No.”

“But Lena-”

“I'm not showing my ass to twelve different shows of people. The mayor is coming, Kara! How will I ever live my life knowing that I mooned the mayor?”

“You didn't have a problem when it was Lucie mooning the mayor – and besides, the mayor knows what she's getting into by coming to see Rent, surely? She's never been to one of our shows before, why start now?”

Lena sighed. “Lucie is just _Lucie_. I'm _Lena Luthor_. I'm Lex Luthor's sister, Lillian Luthor's daughter, Lionel Luthor's favourite... I can't go around flashing my ass! It's bad enough a single nip slip leaked when I was in college.”

Kara was quiet for a moment.

“Nip slip?”

“It's when your nipple slips-”

“I know what a nip slip is, I just. I guess I never thought of you in a situation where that kind of accident might happen.”

The corner of Lena's mouth twitched upward. “What situations have you thought of me in?”

Kara's mouth opened and closed a couple of times.

“Anyway,” she finally settled on, drawing it out to disperse the tension. “You'd make a great Maureen. I can just see it now,” she sighed wistfully, and looked up toward the spotlights. “You, lying here on this stage, pretending the microphone is Elsie's udder...”

Lena immediately burst into laughter. “That's another thing! I wouldn't be able to handle practically sucking off a mic, it'd be so embarrassing.”

“Which is exactly why you should do it!”

“The press would mock me for the rest of my life.”

“Or they would praise you for not thinking too much of yourself that you would turn down doing something embarrassing. I would know. _I'm_ the press.”

“Yes, because your reviews of NCTG's shows are _so_ unbiased.”

They both laughed a little, and Lena looked out at the soft red velvet seats neatly lining the room.

Kara reached out and slipped her fingers through Lena's, then pulled her hand onto her lap and caressed it gently.

Lena watched Kara's fingers move oh-so-lightly over her own. Kara was always hesitant around Lena, she always fret that she would accidentally use her super strength and hurt her. Kara didn't know that Lena knew about her strength, and Lena found it adorable that Kara was so afraid to bring harm to her yet so straightforward with everyone else.

“Fine,” she muttered with a great, defeated sigh. “I'll do it.”

Kara grinned one of those smiles that is just so... _Kara_ , and Lena found herself glad she'd agreed.

The blonde's grin then turned a little cheeky. “I can't wait to see your ass, I hope it's a nice one,” she joked.

Lena rolled her eyes and stood, one hand on her hip and pushing her behind out a little. “Well, they say I have the best ass below fourteenth street.”

Kara just laughed up at her, then turned a little serious. “Oh my god, you'll be kissing M'Gann! Who everyone in town knows to be an alien! Lena Luthor is gonna kiss an alien. Everyone is gonna freak out.”

Lena hung her head. “I'm gonna regret this.”

“You're gonna love this.”

Opening night.

No one really knew yet that Lena had taken over Maureen – they'd changed the posters and fliers, but really, who read those things so close to the performance?

Her half-entrance came. The silhouette of her getting ready, the answering machine message playing over it. Kara observed a few people look confused – they recognised Lena's voice. The mayor tilted her head in interest.

Time passes. Lena is sure she has a panic attack of her own while Angel is arguing the cost of a coat for Tom. She knows this is it. There's no turning back now.

Lights blackout. A blinding spotlight lands on centre stage, revealing – MAUREEN.

Lena stared out, pretending no one was there.

The crowd had started muttering amongst themselves – it was, unmistakably, Lena Luthor on stage.

She was quiet for a moment, but the moment she spoke all whispers were silenced.

“Last night, I had a dream. I found myself in a desert, called _Cyberland_. It was hot. My canteen had sprung a leak, and I was... thirsty.

“Out of the abyss, walked a cow – Elsie. I asked if she had anything to drink.”

Now or never.

“She said,” ( _just do it_ , she thought, _it will be over with soon enough_ ).

“ _I'm forbidden to produce..._ milk. _In Cyberland we only drink..._ diet coke.”

Cue appropriate amount of shock mixed in with laughter at the line.

Lena catches Kara's eye, she's sitting in the back, which allows Lena to maintain her gaze without looking to everyone else like she's staring.

“She said, _only thing to do is jump over the moon. They've closed everything real down,_ like barns, troughs, and... performance spaces. And replaced it all with lies and rules and virtual life... But there is a way out.”

She even grabbed her crotch when it came to “Must be a... female thing.”

Well, she thought, she'd come this far. May as well go the whole hog – or cow, as the case may be.

“ _The only way out is up_! Elsie whispered to me. A leap of faith. Still thirsty?

“Parched.

“Have some milk.

“And so I lowered myself beneath her swollen udder,” (Kara was trying very, very, very hard to contain her laughter. Alex beside her, not so much). “And sucked the sweetest milk I had ever tasted.”

She made some ridiculously believable slurping noises into the mic, and stopped just after hearing 'Roger' call out, “Remember that, Mark?”

Lena stood again.

“Climb on board,' Elsie said. And as a harvest moon rose over Cyberland, we reared back and sprang into a gallop-” she heard Alex and Maggie cackling at the back, and couldn't help but crack a smile. “Leaping out of orbit, I awoke singing.”

Lena sang her lines.

Breathless, she stared out at the audience for a moment, scanning the crowd and actually feeling pretty confident.

She swallowed, and opened her arms, gesturing for people to join her as she -

“Mooooooooo.”

Kara couldn't stop the hysterical giggle that escaped her, and Lena just happened to pick it up over the hesitant laughs of the rest of the audience.

“Moo with me!” she demanded, gesturing to the people in the front seats. “You there sir, moo with me! That's it, moo!” The gentleman played along, and Lena was sure for a moment that she recognised him.

Her gaze found the mayor, and honestly the only thought that went through her head was 'fuck it'. “Madame Mayor, moo with me!”

Mayor Mills was straight in there with a confident “Moooooooooooo!” Only broken in places by her laughter. This gave other patrons the courage to join in, and Lena laughed openly. With a sweep of her arms, she cut them off, and everyone fell silent.

“Thank you.”

Blackout.

Thunderous applause.

**Author's Note:**

> The people listed as cast members who aren't characters on Supergirl are, in fact, the actors from the Rent production I saw at the end of March this year. I can confirm, however, that Lucie Jones does not suffer from panic attacks in real life - it was an easy way of pushing Lena into the role of Maureen.


End file.
